Berio Sequenza III Study Guide

AS Music Study Guide Berio Sequenza III
AS Level Music
Unit 3: Developing musical
understanding
Vocal music 2011
Luciano Berio Sequenza III
A guide for students
1
Nick Redfern
www.nickredfern.co.uk
Contact: education@nickredfern.co.uk
Developing musical understanding works for 2011 .... 3

Instrumental music ............................................................................. 3
Vocal music .......................................................................................... 3
About this document............................................................................ 3
The exam ............................................................................................. 4
Luciano Berio ............................................................. 5

Performance instructions for Sequenza III ................ 6
The poem ................................................................... 7
The Twentieth Century in context .............................. 8
Italian futurism .......................................................... 9
The development of music notation in the Twentieth
Century .................................................................... 10
Sequenza III score conventions........................................................ 11
Other examples of experimental score notation ............................... 12
Sequenzas and Chemins ........................................... 14

Indeterminacy.......................................................... 16
Bars and metre......................................................... 17
Vocal technique and pitch ........................................ 20
Text .................................................................................................... 21
Structure & text ....................................................... 22

Overall structure................................................................................ 25
Thematicism............................................................. 26
YouTube links........................................................... 28
2
Nick Redfern
Developing musical understanding works for

2011
Instrumental music
Bach Sarabande & Gigue from Partita in D
Haydn String Quartet The Joke, movement 4
Webern Quartet Op. 22, movement 1
Tippett Concerto for Double String Orchestra
Vocal music
Dowland Flow my tears
Bruckner Locus iste
Gershwin Summertime
Berio Sequenza III for female voice
Cliff You can get it if you really want
Gallagher Dont look back in anger
About this document

This document is designed to support the study of AS Level Music (edexcel)
Unit 3 Developing musical understanding, Vocal Music. The guide is available
at www.nickredfern.co.uk and is produced in conjunction with student
workbooks, PowerPoint documents and other related material. I have tried
not to include detail which is extraneous to the exam, such as dates and
biographical detail, analysis of text, etc.
For
further
information
or
enquiries
education@nickredfern.co.uk
3
Nick Redfern
please
contact
me
at
The exam
There are two questions which relate to the set works which are constant in
format.
Part B: Investigating Musical Styles
(b) Vocal Music
(i) Describe the stylistic features of XXXXX (one of the set works) which
show that this is an example of XXXXX (style/period/era)
(10)
(ii) Compare and contrast the XXXXX and XXXXX (two compositional
devices: harmony, tonality, melody, structure, vocal writing,
texture and word setting) of XXXXX and XXXXX (two different
set works)
(18)
4
Nick Redfern
Luciano Berio
Luciano Berio was born in Italy October 24th, 1925 and died in May 27th,
2003. He was one of the prominent group of young European composers to
emerge in the 1950s and 10960s along with Stockhausen, Boulez, Kagel,
Xenakis and Nono.
He was a prolific and highly individual composer who wrote works for all
genres but like many great Italian composers the greater part of his work
involved writing for the voice. Although ostensibly an avant-garde composer
his
work
embraces
many
styles
and
genres
including
folk
song
arrangements, works for theatre and even composing an ending for Puccinis
Opera Turandot.
5
Nick Redfern
Performance instructions for Sequenza III
6
Nick Redfern
The poem
7
Nick Redfern
The Twentieth Century in context

These dates are approximate!
1880 - 1900 Development of harmonic language. Use of extended chords,
highly
chromatic
music
and
the
non-resolution
of
dissonance
(the
emancipation of the dissonance)

1900 1916 Development of atonal music language and birth of serial
technique
1912 Schoenbergs Pierrot Lunaire. The birth of Music Theatre (not musical
theatre)
1940s The birth of Musique Concrte and Electronic Music
1950 1960s Extension of serial technique to multi-serial music where other
parameters such as rhythm, dynamics and articulation were subject to strict
order
1950s The first application of aleatoric (chance) principles in music
1950s 1970s The development of rhythmic complexity
1960 1970s The development of musical notation to accommodate new
realms of expression
8
Nick Redfern
Italian futurism
This movement was launched by the poet and writer Filippo Tommaso
Marinetti in 1909. The movement encompassed many artistic genres, one of
which was poetry. The poetic style involved the representation of text in a
highly idiosyncratic form which would suggest an animated and highly
dramatic rendition. Any aspects of conventional grammar were disregarded
in order to create the effect a continuous outburst of though.
9
Nick Redfern

Although Berios work makes no specific reference to the wok of Marinetti
(Berio would often quote other composers material) I do feel it is important
to be aware that the language of Sequenza III is not without precedent.
The development of music notation in the

Twentieth Century
The standard musical notational convention informs the musician on specific
aspects of a musical performance. These are traditionally:
1. Pitch
2. Duration
3. Dynamics
4. Key and metre
5. Articulation
6. Tempo
7. Performance guide
2
6
3
1
4
5
7
10
Nick Redfern
Sequenza III score conventions

1. Pitch.
Here pitch is approximate but is still defined by its vertical
positioning, that is high positioning = high pitch, low positioning = low

pitch.
2. Duration.
Duration is approximate but in proportion in accordance
with its horizontal positioning, which is how traditional duration is

represented.
3. Dynamics.
These are implied by the descriptive terms, such as
urgent and tense muttering

4. Key and metre.
There is no key or traditional metric convention.
Each bar, however, represents 10 seconds which is a metric

convention adopted by many composers in the 1960s.
5. Articulation. Here Berio has devised an array of detailed articulations
6. Tempo. Tempo is defined in seconds. And there are clearly passages
which move an differing tempi (see Overall Structure)
7. Performance
guide.
There
are
many
verbal
indications, or
descriptions, above the score
Figure 1 Berio Sequenza III second measure
So Berio is not straying too far from any traditional application of notational
principles.
He simply has to extend or modify notation to accommodate

11
Nick Redfern

performance requirements that are not addressed in traditional scoring
practice.
Clearly the influence of music theatre (not musical theatre) has required
Berio
to
develop
the
notational
principles
which
would
allow
the
choreography of physical movements and articulations which are not

accommodated by traditional notation. The influence of Electronic Music is
also evident both in the style, structure and gestural language of the music.
Berio had produced Visage for tape which employed a startling and highly
explicit use of Kathy Berberians voice. Clearly the expressive language of
Sequenza III has its origins in this work and the notational devises appear to
recreate much of the expressionistic vocal gestures in Visage.
Other examples of experimental score notation

Stockhausen was keen to develop a new notational form which would reflect
the sounds of his Musique concrete works:
Figure 2 Stockhuassen Gesang de Jnglinge
Between 1963 67 Cornelius Cardew composed Treatise for solo piano using
graphic notation which would allow the performer almost limitless freedom in
interpretation of the score.
12
Nick Redfern
Figure 3 Cardew Treatise page 75
Figure 4 Cradew Treatise page 183
However, it was not Berios intention to allow the singer of the Sequenza
great artistic freedom.
On the contrary, Berio is quite fastidious in his
requirements for the performer.
A work by Berio from 1960, Circles for female voice, harp and two
percussionists, clearly shows notational traits that were later to be fully
realised in Sequenza III.
13
Nick Redfern
Figure 5 Berio Circles
Figure 6 Berio Circles
What makes Circles remarkable is the combination of traditional and

approximate or indeterminate notation for both pitch and rhythm
Sequenzas and Chemins

Between 1958 2002 Berio composed a series of compositions for solo
instrument.
These were intended as virtuosic works which would extend
conventional performance practice and would often include extended

14
Nick Redfern

techniques.
Extended techniques are methods of sound production or
articulation which lie outside the common methods of playing and instrument
or singing.
The works Berio composed for this series are:

Sequenza I for flute (1958)
Sequenza II for harp (1963)
Sequenza III for female voice (1965)
Sequenza IV for piano (1966)
Sequenza V for trombone (1965)
Sequenza VI for viola (1967)
Sequenza VII for oboe (1969)
Sequenza VIII for violin (1976)
Sequenza IXa for clarinet (1980)
Sequenza IXb for alto saxophone (1981)
Sequenza X for trumpet in C and piano resonance (1984)
Sequenza XI for guitar (1987-88)
Sequenza XII for bassoon (1995)
Sequenza XIII for accordion (1995)
Sequenza XIVa for violoncello (2002)
15
Nick Redfern

The Chemins are works which extend the Sequenzas to include instrumental
ensembles.
Indeterminacy
The work is neither improvised nor aleatoric, that is where musical outcomes
are influence by chance occurrence. The singer is not acting upon whim or
impulse or even personal preference when interpreting the music.
Berios
score is quite exact in what is required of the singer but equally the singer is
not always required to perform certain aspects, such as pitch and rhythm, in
a precise manner. This is known as indeterminacy. Here both pitch and
rhythm are defined in a proportional manner depending on their horizontal
and vertical alignment.
Figure 7 Page 3, stave 2 measures 3 - 4
16
Nick Redfern
Bars and metre

The rhythmic language of the multi-serial and stochastic (based on
mathematical theory) works of the 1950s and 1960s produced some
breathtakingly difficult scores to realise.
Pithoprakta, by Iannis Xenakis
195556, is a good example:
Figure 8 Xenakis Pithoprakta
Composers adopting a proportional method of rhythmic notation were able

to produce music of rhythmic complexity without resorting to using highly
complex rhythmic divisions.
17
Nick Redfern

The performer is required to realise the rhythms in relation to their placing
within the bar or measure. Each measure lasts approximately 10 seconds so
the closer the events the faster the realisation, the more spaced apart the
slower:
Figure 9 Sequenza III
Figure 10 Sequenza III
This proportional method is in fact an allusion to the traditional form of

rhythmic notation where the pace of events is represented by the proximity
or nearness of notes.
Figure 11 Beethoven An die Geliebte
18
Nick Redfern

Berio stipulates a number of types of speed of articulation
Figure 12 Berio Sequenza Composer's Notes
Here the mode of notation does not require the multiple beaming to carry
through the whole note group.
Sustained notes are described as
Here is a more sustained passage
Berio does use grace notes:
19
Nick Redfern

The use of grace notes does indicate a subtle differentiation between
principal notes and decorative notes.
Vocal technique and pitch

Berio chooses three types of stave: single line, three and five lines.
The
single lines are to be spoken with pitch definition.
The three lined staves indicate relative pitch of high, medium and low.
Five lines are used extensively and indicate relative pitch; that is the
intervals are to be sung precisely but their exact pitch is determined by the
range of the singer.
The dotted lines tie notes of identical pitch and also indicate that a change in
vocal or vowel sounds will occur smoothly and without accenting individual
notes.
20
Nick Redfern
Text
Figure 16 Sequenza Composer's Notes
21
Nick Redfern
Structure & text

The basic premise or idea of the work is the unfolding of the text via the
exaggerated and highly mannered vocal technique adopted by Berio.
narrative of sorts becomes evident, but not is a linear or chronological

manner, as the narrative of a traditional vocal work. The listener becomes
aware of the text as fragments are offered and reworked in an often
clustered and garbled fashion. The opening passage of page 1 from stave 1
to just over the second measure of stave 2 with its incoherent babble and
consonant clusters1 is important in establishing a stylistic and above all
dramatic stance. The singer does, after all, enter the auditorium with her
tense muttering.
The extended notes exploring phonetic sounds are also
important in establishing clear tessitural (pitch range) and timbral (the colour
of sound) vocal characteristics.
The more sustained and lyrical passages do reveal the text in a more cogent
or clear manner. It is interesting that Berio chooses the first recognisable
text to be a/wo/man at the third measure of stave 2, page 1.
Figure 17 3rd measure, page 1, stave 2
The final passage of page 1, stave 3 to the opening of stave 4 has the first
extended statement of the text in almost unbroken form:
C consonant cluster is where consecutive consonants occur, such as CT or SF
22
Nick Redfern
Figure 18 Page 1, end of stave 3
Figure 19 Page 1, start of stave 4
Berio makes play with the poem by inserting phonetic variants, reordering
and restructuring words and so changing their context and meaning within
the poem. Page 2, second half of stave 2 to the first half of stave 3 is such
an example, where the a few words, give me and to sing are freely
rearranged:
Figure 20 Page 2staves 2 - 3
The reworking of these lines is continued for the rest of page 2 where the
increasing reinvention of text by syllable and vowel in highly virtuosic
coloratura often leads to incoherence. This can be considered to be the first
23
Nick Redfern

climax of the work and is reminiscent of scat singing, a characteristic of Jazz
vocal improvisation.
The next climactic point takes the texts a few words, give me and to sing but
here in a declamatory style with repeated pitches (page 3, stave 1 & 2, 1st
measure). The soprano, Cathy Berberian, chooses the interval of a minor
third for the highest two notes of this passage, an interval which has great
resonance and prominence in this work
Figure 21 Page 3; stave 1 & 2 1st

measure
Page 3, stave 2 has the final scat passage which leads to the work reaching
a more lyrical, sustained and even sombre ending. The final line is one of
the more sustained and reflective passages of the work.
Figure 22 Page 3, line 4
24
Nick Redfern
Overall structure
As musical structure is often the outcome of stating and manipulating melody
and harmony within clear tonal structures it is quite difficult and ultimately
futile to try and appreciate this work and its structure by applying traditional
methods, such as binary and tertiary form. However, the work does have a
very real dramatic shape.
Page 1
A: Entrance of singer and the unfolding of fragments of text staves 1 3,

3rd measure.
Note how the babbling music of this passage (stave 1,
measure 1) does not return until the final stages of the work
Page 1 2
B: Lyrical passage with exact intervals and full voice.
Extended use of the
minor 3rd. Fleeting interjections. Page 1, stave 3, measure 4 to page 2,

stave 3, measure 2. In fact the B - F# of page 2, stave 2 measures 1
2 anticipate the final pitches of the work (B - G) and the final note of this
passage, F# is the enharmonic equivalent of the final pitch of the piece, G.
Although the exact pitch is indeterminate, the intervals and tessitura (vocal
range) do remain.
Page 2
C: Climax 1.
This passage, page 2, stave 3 measure 3 to end of stave
4 is characterised by a rapid succession of alternating extended vocal

techniques in direct contrast to the previous passage.
25
Nick Redfern

Page 2
B1:
Page 2, stave 5 to page 3 measure 1.
Return to five stave
intervals, lyrical full voice with fleeting interjections.
Page 3
C1: Climax 2.
Page 3, staves 1 measure 2 to stave 3 measure 3.
Page 3
B2: To the end.
Return to five line stave, lyrical full voice. Final pitches
B - G.
Thematicism
The work has no overt thematic statements and can be considered to be
athematic. However, Berio does make constant reference to gestures and
intervals which has the effect of creating an accumulative set of expressive
events. The mouth click
is a particularly striking sonority and helps
to define the phrasing of the opening section:
Figure 23 Page 1, end of 1st stave
There is a continual recurrence of the minor third, which is a particularly

expressive interval and ensures continuity in the melodic language.
26
Nick Redfern
Figure 24 Page 1, end of 2nd stave
Figure 25 Page 1, 3rd

stave
Figure 26 Page 1, end of

3rd stave
Figure 27 Page 2, 1st stave
Figure 28 Page 2, 2nd stave
Figure 29 Page 2, end of 3rd stave
27
Nick Redfern
YouTube links
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kbJzjoUGk0I
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i2FzJDXXG-A&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YUou6M4ZNTk&feature=related
28
Nick Redfern

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AS Music Study Guide Berio Sequenza III

Vocal music 2011

Luciano Berio Sequenza III

A guide for students

AS Music Study Guide Berio Sequenza III

Developing musical understanding works for 2011 .... 3

Luciano Berio ............................................................. 5

Sequenzas and Chemins ........................................... 14

Structure & text ....................................................... 22

AS Music Study Guide Berio Sequenza III

Developing musical understanding works for

About this document

AS Music Study Guide Berio Sequenza III

Part B: Investigating Musical Styles

(b) Vocal Music

AS Music Study Guide Berio Sequenza III

AS Music Study Guide Berio Sequenza III

Performance instructions for Sequenza III

AS Music Study Guide Berio Sequenza III

AS Music Study Guide Berio Sequenza III

The Twentieth Century in context

emancipation of the dissonance)

AS Music Study Guide Berio Sequenza III

AS Music Study Guide Berio Sequenza III

The development of music notation in the

AS Music Study Guide Berio Sequenza III

Sequenza III score conventions

Here pitch is approximate but is still defined by its vertical

positioning, that is high positioning = high pitch, low positioning = low

Duration is approximate but in proportion in accordance

with its horizontal positioning, which is how traditional duration is

These are implied by the descriptive terms, such as

urgent and tense muttering

There is no key or traditional metric convention.

Each bar, however, represents 10 seconds which is a metric

descriptions, above the score

Figure 1 Berio Sequenza III second measure

He simply has to extend or modify notation to accommodate

AS Music Study Guide Berio Sequenza III

choreography of physical movements and articulations which are not

Other examples of experimental score notation

Figure 2 Stockhuassen Gesang de Jnglinge

AS Music Study Guide Berio Sequenza III

Figure 3 Cardew Treatise page 75

Figure 4 Cradew Treatise page 183

On the contrary, Berio is quite fastidious in his

requirements for the performer.

AS Music Study Guide Berio Sequenza III

Figure 5 Berio Circles

Figure 6 Berio Circles

What makes Circles remarkable is the combination of traditional and

Sequenzas and Chemins

These were intended as virtuosic works which would extend

conventional performance practice and would often include extended

AS Music Study Guide Berio Sequenza III

Extended techniques are methods of sound production or

The works Berio composed for this series are:

AS Music Study Guide Berio Sequenza III

Figure 7 Page 3, stave 2 measures 3 - 4

AS Music Study Guide Berio Sequenza III

Bars and metre

Pithoprakta, by Iannis Xenakis

195556, is a good example:

Figure 8 Xenakis Pithoprakta